If you’re like most business leaders, you hire more than companies have hired in the past. While workers in the past stayed with their employer for most of or even all of their careers, workers today are more likely to hop around. So companies have frequent vacancies they need to fill. The thing is most companies don’t do it very well.
Here’s how you can review your hiring process for the New Year.
Hire from within
It used to be common practice to promote from within your company. Many companies outsource their hiring, which means recruiters are helping to bring in outside hires. When you bring in new people, you have to spend more time and money training them than you would with internal hires. Post jobs internally—if nothing else, you’ll let your other employees know that there’s room for career advancement at your company, which hopefully prevents them from leaving to find a better job elsewhere.
Post only real jobs
Some companies post “fake” jobs simply to collect resumes and contact information for candidates who might be a good fit for something later on. And some companies even leave job posts up on their website even after they’ve been filled for the same reason. But this vagueness means that you’re not necessarily matching the best candidate to a specific job. Instead, you’re just bringing on a candidate you like who might be a good cultural fit, but who’s not necessarily qualified to full any roll there.
Have realistic expectations
Many applicant tracking systems scan resumes and qualifications and because of their binary, black and white decision-making ability, they’re tossing out candidates left and right who might have enough soft skills and motivation to be great hires, but because they didn’t have every single little requirement, their application was eliminated. When you use human recruiters, however, you have the flexibility to bring on people who aren’t fully qualified but who are really passionate and driven to learn.
Focus on active candidates
Active candidates are a lot easier to hire than passive candidates. Passive candidates require a larger salary to leave their current job and accept a new one, whereas active ones will take jobs because they want better work and opportunities for advancement. They’re generally more ambitious, more passionate about their work, and committed to improvement. So, if you opt for passive candidates, know that you’ll probably have to pay more.
Improve your interview process
Conducting good interviews really is a skill. It’s a challenge to craft questions that really will predict who makes a good hire. Be consistent across candidates and keep any biases you might have out of the room. Most of all, it’s a chance to assess how well the candidates fit into your company’s culture.
For more tips on improving your hiring process so you can find the right talent to power your company toward sustainable growth, contact our team today.
